THE BOOK OF IMAGINARY JOURNEYS synopsis

The Book of Imaginary Journeys (224 pages) comprises two travel journals written by a certain X.B.R., in the first of which the Traveller describes the cities and kingdoms he visits. This makes up thirty short texts. The second journal contains notes and drawings the Traveller jots down along the way, together with more intimate reflections. These drawings and reflections are interspersed between the more descriptive texts. The book is inspired by Italo Calvino’s novel Invisible Cities.

The book begins by stating that ‘All journeys are a return. Any traveller returns home the moment he sets foot outside the house. He has to come back in order to say what has happened, to turn the journey into a story’. The first place the Traveller goes to is Arimoi, where visitors are only allowed to stay for three days, otherwise they will be handed over to the Primate’s soldiers. In Arimoi, he is welcomed into the house of Quinto and Liceria and shown the kingdom’s greatest secret: it is built on top of a gold column that rests on the fulcrum of a glistening diamond. Arimoi was built by the hand of God in order to show the extent of his wisdom. This text is preceded by an incantation the Traveller must recite before setting out on his way. It is followed by a recipe for preparing millet with quail and trout.

Arama is a place where dust storms always threaten to rise into the air. The doors are adorned with different door knockers. If you knock on one, they will ask you what you want and then direct you to the only inn. Here, you will find the door ever so slightly ajar but, when you knock out of politeness, the echo resounds throughout Arama and all the doors open at once. Fortina is a woman who imagines Arama to be a musical city, but spends her time conducting choirs and orchestras only she is capable of hearing. Arodisi is a city built on the surface of a river, to which you gain access by crossing a bridge. You then have to be measured to make sure you’re the right size to be allowed in. The houses are built on stilts. Its inhabitants are afraid of the giants who live in the mountains because they have destroyed all the cities built on the banks of the river, which is why their city is built on the river itself, although none of them can claim to have seen the giants. Tigrio is a shipwright who dreams of sailing down the river to the sea.

Aruasi is famous for being the kingdom of the just. An old man tells the traveller that in this city parents will hand their own child over to the judge to be punished for a misdeed, but later an old woman affirms that parents will never hand their own child over to the judge, but will discipline him themselves, because the first thing is love. Agricio is a lean old man who appears on all the roads, offering travellers advice. He is much respected. The kingdom of Arode is divided into two capitals: one for the living, and one for the dead. In the dead city, bodies are laid out with books that record their deeds or misdeeds. The inhabitants of the living city strive to attain an honourable position in history, they are already concerned about how they will be remembered. A sign records the exploits of one king of Arode, Quinidius II. Amri is a city that was built under a cherry tree. All went well there until the inhabitants decided to stop the birds stealing cherries from the tree. They managed with nets and other devices to scare the birds off, but then the tree began to die and the city fell into ruin. Only one old man is left. The roads on which the Traveller walks are full of voices that break the silence, sometimes it is necessary to take the overgrown path on which the only voice is that of one’s doubts.

In Aibone, the only inhabitants are women and they live in the tops of trees that distance them from the stench of the bog. The women are said to live in absolute harmony with one another, although all the Traveller is able to ascertain is the sound of their song, of which he records an example. Adiebo is a place where all the houses – and all the inhabitants’ desires and dreams – are one and the same. Their desires come from above, from those in authority, they only live to carry them out. In this city, the Traveller hears the blacksmith’s music as he hammers on the cold metal. In Aimefue, a city built inside a forest, the trees move and have their own language. The Traveller drinks from a bowl in which is a water lily, a woman waiting for her love.

Aiza is a city where nobody ever sleeps. Some travellers are entranced by the beauty of its architecture and end up spending the night there, falling asleep and being sacrificed in the temple, the destiny of all who fall asleep. Efisio is a man who treasures the earth so much he would like to plough it with a pair of unicorns. Aivilo is built around a lake where those who have drowned and not been washed up in thirty days are carried by underground rivers. Their loved ones wait for them to appear and then take their bodies home with them. The Traveller meets one Rogato, who goes about the world collecting seven keys so he can recover a treasure in Arabia. Aiportue is reached by seven bridges: one for maidens who wish to fall in love; another where people go to hold Death up, so the person who was destined to die has time to escape the city; on another, people wait for the arrival of a child or women go to get pregnant; there is a fifth where sick people are healed; a sixth where the king returns from battle; and a seventh on which the dead are carried to the cemetery and all travellers must leave if they want to meet with good fortune. The Traveller is struck by the beauty of a woman in the rain, Alsira.